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Aldo
Lezana, President of the Chilean Federation of Dairy Company Workers Unions (FENATRAL),
traveled to New Zealand, with the support of the IUF, to meet with Fonterra
executives and present the situation of Soprole workers in Chile.
Sirel spoke with him about the
meeting.
-When was the trip to
New Zealand decided?
-The trip was the
result of an invitation from the IUF, which was planning to meet with
Fonterra in New Zealand and wanted our federation to be present at
that meeting.
-When was the meeting
held?
-On Tuesday, February
7. IUF General Secretary Ron Oswald was there, along with James
Ritchie, of the New Zealand Dairy Workers Union (NZDWU), and
representatives of Australian unions, and, of course, Fonterra’s
executive officers.
-What did you discuss
at the meeting?
-We had 15 minutes to
present our situation and we’d like to thank the other meeting participants for
their solidarity, as they gave up part of their time so we could have half an
hour. We presented three issues, which we have been denouncing for some time
through Sirel.
The first issue is our
demand for what we call “effective communication,” that is, a productive dialog
in which things are resolved, with dates and deadlines, instead of what we have
today, which is merely sitting around a table and talking without solving
anything.
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We don’t think
it’s fair for
Soprole to apply
a discriminating
policy against
outsourced
workers, and
Fonterra, as a
shareholder, is
participating in
that strategy. |
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The second issue has to
do with “occupational health and safety.” With respect to this issue we
expressed the need to open an occupational health history file for each Soprole
worker, in order to accurately assess any repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) that
have resulted at work.
We also discussed the
internal problems caused by the company’s discrimination our trade union, which
is part of a federation, in favor of the other trade union that exists in the
company and which is not part of a federation. We said that in order to regain
credibility and improve the workers’ living conditions, the company must set a
date to hold joint negotiations with both unions.
The third issue is the
situation of outsourced workers. In this regard, we pointed out that these
workers are part of the chain of production and we don’t think it’s fair for
Soprole to apply a discriminating policy against them, and that Fonterra,
as a shareholder, is participating in that strategy.
These workers have no
social benefits and are even denied economic dignity, as after the negotiations
that just concluded they are earning barely above the minimum wage, which in
Chile is not enough for a family to live on.
To put an end to this
discrimination we would be willing to have a separate bargaining agreement for
these workers, and we ask that an estimate be made of how much money the
middleman is pocketing, so that those sums can be applied instead to improving
these workers’ conditions. This would without a doubt result in greater
productivity for the company.
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This is a great step
forward for the union, as we had never had any direct contact with Fonterra’s
global management before. |
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-What was Fonterra’s
reaction?
-They gave us their
full attention. We have a new CEO, Justin Miller, because Fonterra’s
Chilean office now answers to the Australian regional office and is no
longer under the direction of New Zealand.
Miller
would not venture an opinion yet, as he’s traveling to Chile in March or
April, but he promised to contact us then, after he’s spoken with management in
Chile.
We heard the same from
the human resource director, who will also be coming to Chile.
Nonetheless, our
preliminary assessment of the meeting -and Ron Oswald agrees with
us- is that it was a positive meeting in which we were able to clearly present
our case. We think this is a great step forward, as we had never had any direct
contact with Fonterra’s global management before.
We are very much aware
that the IUF opened up a door for us and that it is now up to us keep it
open.
We would also like to
express our gratitude to our fellow unionists at Rel-UITA (IUF Latin
America) for their coordination efforts, and to Cijifredo Vera, the
IUF coordinator in Chile.
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Aldo Lezana Contreras,
President of the Chilean Federation of Dairy Company Workers Unions (FENATRAL),
at the 14th Latin American Conference of the IUF |
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